Feathers on the Wind
by HeartofFyrwinde
Summary: When Leon received that letter at the end of KHII...who was it from? As Radiant Garden surges ahead in the reconstruction efforts, he looks to the sky and begins to realize perhaps not all he cherished has been lost forever... Elements of FFVII/FFVIII: Rated T for moderate language.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own FFVII, FFVIII or Kingdom Hearts. That credit goes to the brilliant mind of Tetsuya Nomura and the staff of Square Enix International.

**Feathers on the Wind**

For once, Merlin's place was quiet. Yuffie's usual antics and endless jabbering was absent, along with the girl herself. It had been another long day for the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee (just recently changed from 'Hollow Bastion') and those members who'd been out on patrol showed it. Leon, looking a bit scuffed-like a shoe someone dropped a brick on-lounged in a corner, lost in his thoughts. Aerith was off on a quick errand. Cid had just taken break from typing at his computer to fiddle with some of the parts he was collecting to fix one of his old machines. Merlin-more eccentric-looking than normal with his simple blue robe slightly scorched and his beard all in a frizz-occupied his ample time with his next batch of potions, humming merrily as he stirred and fiddled away.

Suddenly, there came a knock at the door. Since no one else seemed interested, Merlin harrumphed and went to answer it. "Ah, today's mail!" he exclaimed as he opened the door and accepted the sheaf of letters. "Thank you!" He backed away and awkwardly booted the door shut with a slipper-shod foot before sorting the mail. As he turned back towards the living areas he was muttering to himself about an upcoming meeting.

Once settled at the table, Merlin flicked his staff to make the tableware and his newly-added potbellied stove prepare a hot, steaming kettle of Earl Gray tea, opening the first letter. The letter's addressees (and, after a brief skim, its contents) made the old wizard fume and hunch his shoulders in annoyance. "Oh, hang it all! _Another_ complaint about my magical research. Confound those ungrateful higher-class upstarts!" The letter flew over Merlin's shoulder, accompanied by more typical 'old fart' grumblings. "Those wicket-witted idiots and their prattling about the" (he shifted into a simpering tone) "'possible effects of noxious gases produced by your potentially hazardous activities'…Oh, I'll show them just what mumble…" The complaint letter was quickly followed by three more letters in rapid succession. "Bills…bills…bills…" The fourth Merlin kept. "Ah, a letter from Yen Sid—no doubt regarding Sora's victory. Ah, bless that lad; his heart's in the right place…" He paused, sending it off to his desk with another wave of his magical staff.

He stopped at the fifth letter abruptly with a frown and a wordless exclamation. After musing over it for a moment before he got up and turned towards the half of his house dedicated to the Committee's daily meetings. "Ah…Leon, my boy! Something came in the mail for you!" Merlin called, waving the letter as he descended the steps to his small parlor table and made his way towards the other half of the room. Then he paused and frowned beneath his beard, glancing at the name on the envelope again. "Er, that is, a-at least I _think_ it's for you."

From his spot by the wall near Cid's computer, Leon grunted. "Why's that?"

"Well, it's addressed to a, ah, 'Squall Leonhart'. No return address; just the, ah, name. Might you know anyone by-?" Merlin faltered; Leon had raised his head so fast he'd almost given himself whiplash.

"What?" His voice was strained. The tone of it was like nothing Merlin had ever heard from him before.

Merlin let the hand holding the letter drop to his side. "Are…are you all right, m'boy?"

Leon stiffened, but then he shook his head as though warding off a headache. "Fine. And yes, that's for me."

Merlin frowned as Leon walked over. "Ah yes. Well…this _is_ rather odd. Perhaps it's someone you know from your past," he remarked as he handed Leon the letter. "There have been some former residents who've returned lately, you know. Missing, I believe, since the Fall, correct?"

"Mm." Leon's noncommittal grunt was his only reply. He slit the letter open with his finger and retreated to his usual brooding spot over by the far wall, leaving Merlin scratching his head at the man's vague answer. Once the old wizard went off to his usual business (magic and, of course, making Cid cuss a blue streak), Leon opened the letter. Pulling out the single sheet of paper he found inside, he unfolded it and began to read. What he saw on the page made him freeze. No one noticed.

There was not much to see, just three simple sentences and a drawing of two angel wings, formed similar to a butterfly's. To anyone else it would be puzzling and leave them confused. But for Leon, it was something else entirely.

Squall, I'm alive.

Laguna and Elle are with me, and I'll be home soon.

The rest is a surprise, ok?

Love you.

His eyes felt wet all of a sudden; wet with unshed tears. He couldn't believe it. Barely realizing what he was doing, Leon traced the drawing with his fingers, letting a single name slip.

_"Rinoa…"_

There were literally years of heartache behind that name. He'd spent ten years—_ten __years_-searching for her. Years of waiting and hoping since their world had fallen; now almost one since they'd come back.

He'd nursed nightmares in Traverse Town, seeing her vanish under the Heartless, or disappear into a black void, always crying his name—his worst-or watching her grow smaller and smaller as they took off, while their world fell—by contrast the mildest.

He'd had dreams, too, mostly of her voice, or her endearing smile, or her face. Some had been memories; but of all of them, one was the most prominent: that of her in a short, simple cream-colored dress, her finger raised in an obvious question at that SeeD cadet graduation ball where they'd met. "One dance?" she seemed to be asking with that one gesture, as the scene played over in his mind. He could remember her… unusual… greeting—she'd walked right up. _"You're the best looking guy here. Dance with me?"_ His reply: _"I can't dance." _She'd smiled. "_Oh, I see…you'll only dance with someone you like."_ She'd held up a finger and waved it back and forth in what was intended to be a hypnotic pattern._ "You're-going-to-like-me, you're-going-to-like-me…Did it work?"_ Leon smiled to himself at the memory of the following—and rather embarrassing—dance; a waltz. Oh, he'd been clumsy, disastrously so because of his temperament back then, while she'd forgiven every stumble and misstep. That smile of hers—so endearing-had broken him and he'd given up not trying.

They'd met again just a few weeks later. When that sorceress from Esthar woke up from stasis and started a siege on Radiant Garden, they'd ended up fighting together. Along the way Rinoa had taught him to open up, and they'd fallen in love in the process. Sappy, yes, but it had happened.

But then the new 'Ansem'—really Xehanort, he knew now-came along and screwed everything up, bringing Maleficent down on all their heads in the process. _Damn that black-hearted bastard…_

He looked up briefly to nod at Aerith when she came in (with her basket full for the week's Committee dinner) before he went back to re-reading the letter again.

Even when he'd been separated from her and his light had nearly died inside him, even when he and the soon-to-be "Restoration Committee" had returned to this world to find it in ruins, even when the Heartless had attacked barely a month ago…hell, even when they'd remembered city's true name, he'd never stopped looking.

Lately, more memories of that radiant time, dim from ten years' disuse, were starting to return in force as the restoration continued. In fact, Leon had remembered something he'd been kicking himself for forgetting ever since. He'd forged a unique bond with Rinoa once her powers as a sorceress had appeared…they'd been bound together in a sense, heart to heart. That bond was still there.

Sighing, Leon glanced down, and his attention refocused on the second line.

_Dad…_ The memory of his father coaxed the hint of a rueful smile to his lips. Resident smart-aleck and hapless goofball, accidental politician and eventual president, and a former soldier to boot. Who'd've thought it? He'd found out only a few days before the Fall. And his sister...of course: 'Sis' was another reason he'd changed his name. He still missed her.

He'd thought they were dead…or worse. All of them.

This…this could change everything.

And who knew? Maybe the others would come back soon.

But his reverie was broken when Yuffie came bursting through the door, shouting (good grief!) at the top of her voice, "**Who wants ice cream?**"

Leon rolled his eyes. _Oh, great._ His ears were screaming at him already.

"Cid, I got some for ya," Yuffie chirped.

"Hey, I was jus' getting' hungry, Yuf," Cid remarked as she handed him an ice cream bar. One went to Tifa, and the last went to Aerith, who'd just arrived. Leon grunted; no one had noticed him. Good. Meanwhile, Yuffie was blabbing and didn't notice the Gullwings sneaking up on the last ice cream in her hand. Leon groaned, knowing what was coming. Sure enough, Yuna, Rikku, and Paine nabbed the ice cream bar and flew off with it, with Rikku giggling up a storm. Yuffie noticed right away of course and went after them, yelling "HEY! GET BACK HERE!" _Aaaannnnd here they come, _Leon thought with a mental groan.

Feeling a bit ironically playful for once, he waited until the Gullwings—minus Paine by now-were almost on top of him. Then right as the Gullwings passed him he reached out and grabbed the stick of the ice cream bar, yanking it away before they had time to realize what had happened. "Thanks," he said in passing.

Yuffie skidded to a halt in front of him. "You got it! Awesome!" Leon ignored her and held it up to take a bite. When she didn't budge, Leon paused and regarded her with his best _'You're Kidding, Right?' _glare. Did she really think he was going to let her have it back after all that screeching? Uh, no. No way in hell.

Rikku was arguing with her two friends over who'd lost the bar. After what sounded like "Oh, foofie!" from Rikku, the trio departed in a flurry of sparkles.

Over in his own respective corner, Cid was about to take a bite from his ice cream bar, but then his computer started acting up and he practically used it like a baton while he began yelling obscenities at Merlin. Merlin retaliated by returning the favor with some very wordy (and tactful in comparison) insults before he fired a few choice spells that blew Cid backwards off his seat onto the floor. At that, the computer went completely haywire from overload...either that or it just felt like it was a good time. Leon shook his head as the new printer Cid had built began to beep ominously.

"Givvit!" Yuffie whined, oblivious to the old-man argument. She tried to grab it. Leon moved the bar out of reach.

"Not gonna happen. You get careless, you pay the price. Besides, it's been awhile since I tried this stuff." He took a small bite and nodded as the taste came. Salty but sweet, with a hint of vanilla. Must mean Scrooge recreated that old Sea Salt flavor. He flicked the ice cream bar at the door, otherwise not budging. "If you want a new one, go ahead. Not too far to the marketplace."

"Awww, Leeeoooonnn…"

He smiled slightly. "Here." He dropped fifty munny in her hands, to Yuffie's surprise. "Use this. Should cover it."

"Huh—?"

"Go, before I change my mind."

Yuffie did a backwards handspring. "Thanks, Squally!" She ran for the door.

"That's Le-"

BAM! The door slammed before he could finish. Cid groaned and peeled himself off the floor just in time to get swamped by the now-runaway printer. More swearing followed—some of which was VERY crude-until the printer ran out of paper, leaving the mechanic almost up to his neck in the resulting mess. Finally, the former air jockey managed to dig himself out...just in time to see the printer's spur-of-the-moment decision to have a complete and utter meltdown. Cursing some more, Cid stomped out of the room.

With a sigh, Leon glanced back at the letter. He did so just in time to see the wings on the page glow, and he frowned.

Had he just seen…?

Then the symbol flapped twice and flew up, right off the page. His amazed eyes tracked it as it flew up before his face, before continuing on its way towards the rafters, where it shimmered and vanished.

Magic.

_See you soon,_ it seemed to say. He didn't doubt it for a second.

"Leon?"

He shifted slightly and looked down from the ceiling to see Aerith in front of him, gazing at where the butterfly had just vanished. The girl looked down and her forest-green eyes focused on him. "What was that?"

"Nothing."

Aerith pinned one of her gentle, smiling 'I-don't-think-so' looks on him. "You're sure?"

Leon fidgeted. For some reason, she could see through his shields just as well as she could see through Cloud's, and that bothered him a bit. "…" He didn't bother replying, hoping she'd come to her own conclusions.

Aerith just nodded, smiling sweetly. "Well, if you want to talk to me about it later, feel free, okay?"

An unbidden smile curved Leon's mouth and he stepped away from the wall, heading for the door. "Thanks, but…I don't think I'll need to."

He turned away again and pocketed the letter (not noticing when something slipped out of his back pocket) grabbed his gunblade from its temporary resting place and swung it swiftly onto his shoulder as he headed for the door. He paused just as he was about to leave. "I'll be back later. Might as well see if any more Heartless have shown up."

"And if one more makes it tough?" Leon smirked to himself when he heard the teasing tone of her voice. She'd heard about his banter with Cloud, then. He glanced back. "Then that one's yours." With that, he departed, closing the door behind him with a creak and the thud of wood on stone.

Aerith giggled at Leon's reply and smiled to herself, wondering what had him in such a good mood. Something certainly did. Suddenly, she caught sight of something on the floor over in the corner. She cocked her head curiously as she bent down; it was a folded slip of paper. Dusting it off, she realized what the paper was as she opened it.

It was a small photograph, folded once so it was just the right size to tuck into the back pocket of someone's pants, or keep tucked inside a wallet. The colors had faded slightly with age, but were still vivid, and the scene depicted conveyed a sense of happiness and blooming sunshine. It had obviously been taken in a rather spur-of-the-moment situation. Depicted in it were two people; a young man and a woman, obviously in their late teens, seventeen or eighteen at least. The girl was impishly hanging onto the young man's shoulders and neck from behind, riding piggyback, her chin nestled in the curve between neck and shoulder blade.

The man was obviously Leon, only younger, dressed a little bit differently and with much shorter hair than the man Aerith knew. His face was set in a rather odd expression somewhere between annoyance and tenderness, obviously directed at the young woman, who was beaming ear to ear for the camera. The woman was…well, different. Her favorite color was blue, and Aerith could see she wore it very well. Her primary article of clothing was a long, sleeveless knit duster (worn for the most part open, except for the fabric ties that were tied in a bow knot just under her chest.) Under that, she wore a black tank top, a dark blue skirt and zippered black shorts. Thick-soled black boots shod her feet. Her forearms were covered by knit warmers that extended from her elbows to her wrists, made from the same fabric as her duster. Long, silky-looking black hair accented by slight caramel-brown highlights framed a beautiful face and spirited dark eyes that seemed to glow with exuberance even in this tiny photograph.

The woman seemed familiar, now that Aerith thought about it. She flipped the photo over to glance at the date and found a note there as well, scribbled in a lo ose, sprawling script.

_Squall & Rinoa_

_Come on, you two, run off and get hitched already! _

_ Irvine_

"Squall…?" Aerith murmured, confused. Then she remembered: Leon had changed his name on purpose after the Fall; he'd said something about not being able to protect the ones he cared about. This Irvine fellow who'd written the note might've been one of them. And…Rinoa. Hm. Rinoa … Then a sad smile crossed Aerith's face as she realized who Rinoa was. She was Leon's girlfriend. A good sorceress on their side she'd heard rumors of during Adel's Siege. Judging from the photo, it had been taken a few days after that battle. And that letter…it could only mean…

_They look so happy,_ she thought. The photo was well-creased and the edges were frayed. Leon obviously brought it out often. Aerith looked up from the photo and headed for the door. She had to give this back or Leon would come to the wrong conclusions.

Cid finally managed to dig his way out of the pile of paper. "Where're you goin'?"

"Leon dropped something—I have to give it back to him." Aerith grabbed her bladed staff from its own place near the door. Running out, she barely paused to say a hasty "I'll be back soon, okay?" to Cid before she closed the door behind her.

Once outside Merlin's she stopped, sensing the gathering darkness. Heartless wriggled out of the pavement or warped out of thin air. "Sorry, boys," she said in a deceptively sweet voice, pulling out her staff. "I'm in a hurry." Confused but determined, the Heartless hesitated…and paid dearly for it. Aerith quickly twirled her staff once with a shout of "_Ultima_!" A blaze of green-white light flared out of her staff and exploded on three of the monsters, blasting them to powder. Aerith then readied her staff and ran towards one of the weaker creatures—a Soldier. The thing-dumb and clumsy and not at all prepared for this-was an easy kill, torn to shreds of darkness by Aerith's bladed staff as she swung it down in a quick chopping motion. Two more Heartless fell to the flower girl's weapon as she whirled around with her staff held horizontally, but more arose to take their places. Aerith retreated a bit, holding her staff ready in both hands. _I need to put an end to this. Leon needs that photo back._

Rallying her strength again she flung herself at the Heartless with a grim look on her face. The creatures—a bit more wary of her now—came skittering in eagerly despite the obvious danger of magic. Aerith was no longer holding back and she would have looked surprisingly swift to anyone that saw her at the moment. Ducking a Morning Star's pummels, she swept her staff underneath it and flung it upwards with assistance from a Tornado spell, then leapt and hammered it to the cobblestones with enough force to make the ground shake. It was not as…flashy as Sora's usual maneuver, she knew, but she had her own ways. Landing swiftly she blocked a few Shadows' sloppy clawings, blasting them with several spells, but a nearby Large Body burst clear through her guard. A heavy fist smashed into her, knocking her off balance. Aerith's world spun for a moment as she stumbled backwards, dazed from the heavy blow.

She wiped her mouth, feeling a slight trickle of blood, and a heavy frown appeared on her face. "That's not nice, you know," she admonished the rotund beast, which was looking rather pleased with itself. She raised her fighting staff and ran her hand up its length. The long bladed pole began to glow greenish white before she let go, letting it float in front of her of its own accord. Aerith then conjured a ball of seething green-white light in her hands. She let it build until it was large enough, then flung it gracefully into the sky. "_Holy_!" Another flash-this one even brighter than the previous-shot down and engulfed the giant Heartless, shining bright enough to nearly blind those citizens unlucky enough to be looking out a window. But Aerith was barely affected by the light. She lashed out in the dimming aftermath, flinging Firaga, Aeroga and Blizzaga spells—as well as others-left and right, doing her best to dodge the worst of the retaliators' blows. A Neoshadow managed to claw at her back, tearing her red bolero jacket. Aerith staggered and kicked out with driving force, landing a solid blow to the monster's face. She retreated up the street to the stairs up to the town wall, fighting off any weaker Heartless that showed up as she retreated. The Neoshadow—definitely ticked off now—followed with a vengeance, dropping into the shadows whenever she tried to fight it head-on

Then more Neoshadows swarmed in, encircling the young woman and trapping her at the area at the top of the stairs. Aerith swallowed. _Ten of them? This might be tricky…_

"I won't lose to you!" she snapped. The Neoshadows twitched and Aerith felt a sickening feeling of dread come over her. The feral disdain evident in those gleaming yellow eyes was chilling to behold. The monsters were obviously unimpressed by her and were eager to finish the battle. They swarmed like insects, leaping up with lightning speed to pile on and latch onto her. Aerith dodged as best she could. She destroyed the first two with a tremendous blast of fiery energy that melted the Heartless into globules of black goo. The third was easier, more reckless, and died under sharp lashes from her staff's twin blades; the fourth one was impaled through the torso with a sharp cry of effort from Aerith as she thrust her staff home.

Then one got hold of her, its sharp claws digging in, and she cried out in pain. Then another. And another. Aerith fell to on knee and felt despair well up as she tried to get up, failing after a few struggled tries. "HELP!" She collapsed a moment later under the weight of a fourth Heartless.

_This can't be the end… _she thought. A grinning face with spiky black hair and sky blue eyes (a SOLDIER trademark!) welled up in her memories, and hot tears welled up. "Zack…" she managed, her breath crushed under the shadowy heap atop her.

A shout of rage registered just as she was about to give in to the encroaching shadows. "AERITH! HANG ON!" A gloved attached to a lean arm yanked her out of the Heartless and onto to her feet, and a hiss from the Heartless brought her back just in time to see Leon raise a hand at the gathering Heartless, his expression downright thunderous and his gunblade gleaming dangerously. Aerith shivered as her wits and her magic reacted to something: a powerful aura of _otherness_ that seemed to be emanating from the gunblade wielder.

When Leon spoke, there was an oddly leonine growl in his voice that was not normally present. _"__This is your end!__" _ He gestured, flicking his arm out before bringing it back towards him and holding his hand up before his face, his fingers curled into a tight fist.

A deceptively small orb of seething blue energy swirled into existence in the midst of the Heartless. As Leon began to focus, the orb began to expand, creating a vortex effect around, dragging the Heartless in slowly and growing all the while. A low thrum quickly built to a whine of evident doom. Leon's steely gaze was filled with fury. Aerith watched her friend, oddly entranced...but then she flinched as she sensed that strange presence, which was almost snarling at the Heartless by now. It felt proud and strong much like the man himself, yet it wasn't him at all; the anger it held towards the monsters was truly fearsome. Leon's fist clenched tighter and there was a split-second of abrupt, loaded silence as the energy compacted abruptly with a sudden _shwip_. He spoke. _"__Shockwave Pulsar!__" _The orb exploded with all the force of a supernova, making a muffled, thundering FWHUMP as it expanded, vaporizing the Heartless. A shockwave of transparent blue energy passed the two of them, the force of its wake blowing heavily at their clothes in passing before it vanished.

As the blast died, Aerith could feel the odd energy emanating from Leon fade slowly. He turned to her with a look of angry disbelief. "What in all hells were you thinking? You could've been killed!"

He didn't shout it, but the anger in his voice cut deep and made Aerith flinch. Nevertheless, she held her ground. Reaching into her jacket pocket, she pulled out the still-folded photograph. Thankfully, it hadn't been damaged. With a solemn expression, she held it out to him. "You dropped this." Leon stared at it. "I thought you might want it back," she added when he didn't move.

Hesitating at first, Leon accepted the photo and unfolded it, staring down at the image. His expression shifted as he stared at the image. At last he looked up, and for once Aerith saw an emotion other than guilt, brooding or detachment in her friend's gaze. It was gratitude. She smiled tremulously. "You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah." He paused, searching for the right words. "Thanks, Aerith."

She beamed. Leon turned to leave when a detail of the last few minutes occurred to Aerith. "Oh, Leon?"

"Hm?"

"What was that…presence?" She saw his back stiffen.

"You felt that?" he asked.

Aerith nodded.

He turned his head to look over his shoulder. "It's Griever."

"What? What's that?"

"My summon. No, no—that's not quite it." He shook his head. "It's my Guardian. He's part of my bond with…" He trailed off.

Realizing what he meant, Aerith finished it for him. "With Rinoa?"

Leon nodded reluctantly.

"Okay. Treasure it."

"What?"

Aerith smiled. She couldn't fault him for feeling sad. "It's your link back to her. And just for the record, I wanted to give that photo back so you wouldn't go chasing Yuffie around town."

That garnered a slight snort out of him. "As long as you're heading back, would you mind making sure the neighborhood is in lockdown? I don't want any more casualties, and you were too close."

"Okay." She paused. "Hey…That letter…" she started, "…it's going to change a lot around here, isn't it?" A slightly raised eyebrow was Leon's only response. Aerith smiled gently, much like she did whenever she talked to Cloud. _Those two…are more alike than they think,_ Aerith thought to herself. "I'll cheer for you, okay?" she said. "When they're back. This is good...for all of us."

Leon simply stood there.

"Because that's what friends do for each other. They give support."

"Okay." He turned a little more. "I'll hold that promise in mind if," she winced at the sentiment "and/or _when_," Leon added in a heartbeat, "your SOLDIER boy comes home."

Aerith smiled, and this time she felt a teardrop trickle down her face. "All right."

"Now go on and tend to the Garden. I'll handle the bugs." With that, he departed with his gunblade propped on his shoulder, leaving Aerith standing in the deserted, peaceful street watching his back and the twin red angel wings emblazoned on the back of his jacket.

She looked up at the sky and for once she felt hope bloom. "Hurry home, Zack," she whispered to the sky. "We still have a date to finish, remember?"

Behind and above her on a higher portion of the wall, a flicker of green-white light tendrils rose up, revealing the tall frame of a well-built man; a black-haired SOLDIER 1st Class with a kind, craggy face and a pair of white angel wings (one larger, one far smaller) sprouting from his right side. He smiled down at the strong-hearted girl and folded his arms, nodding both to himself and to her. His larger wing rustled as it extended, opening fully.

Aerith heard the rustle of feathers and turned to look, but she saw nothing: Angeal Hewley had already vanished back into the netherworld. But a white feather left behind drifted down on a light breeze, heading slowly to earth. Her eyes widened at the sight of the wafting feather, and as it slowly descended she reached out and caught it in an open palm. A happy tear trickled down her cheek and she looked back up at the precipice, smiling.

"Thanks, Angeal." She knew that somewhere, the SOLDIER 1st heard her. Zack would come back. That's all that mattered.

To be continued...

* * *

**A/N:** Well? What do you think? So far I've got what would amount to five or six chapters worth. Please review! I could use a lot of feedback.


	2. Chapter 2

_A day later…_

"Cid."

The former flight jockey glanced up from his frenzied typing at the computer, still nursing a headache from the magic Merlin had hit him with. Headaches always made him grumpy. Cleaning up all that paper from the printer had not been fun in the least, either. "What's up?"

Leon folded his arms across his chest, looking every bit the stoic, calm, _don't-_ever_-BS-me_ team leader he was. "You're on patrol duty with me tonight."

Cid swiveled around, twiddling with his toothpick in confusion. "Whuh-? Now wait jes' a cotton-pickin' minute! Who says so?"

Leon folded his arms. "I do. Get your spear. You're the only one able enough to stay focused on the job right now," he said, "and I need some backup."

Cid quirked an eyebrow. "How so?"

A long-suffering sigh came from Leon's chest, and he rubbed the scar on his face. "Well…something might 'come down' while we're out on patrol. There are rumors floating around, and the others aren't in any shape to do any patrol work. Yuffie's out cold from that last batch of sludge you call coffee…" (Cid bristled like a stepped-on cat, but Leon glared and went on) "…Aerith's practicing her magic again and is liable to murder me if I butt in."

Cid chuckled. Leon retorted with a glare and a clipped "I'm serious." Cid shut up, and Leon continued again. _The things I have to put up with…_he mused. They would've driven a lesser man insane a long time ago. "Tifa's gone off somewhere searching for any leads on this new dark group we've been hearing about, and Cloud's off the map; even _I_ don't know where he's gone. Sora's not here, either." He raised an eyebrow. "I could ask Merlin for help if you aren't up for it…"

"Hey, watch what yer aimin' at! That's what's left of my damn pride."

Leon gave him a flat look. "…Whatever."

Cid grumped a bit, adding a few more choice words for good measure before finally giving in. "Okay, fine, fine." He hauled himself up and glanced towards the slightly dusty spear leaning up against the wall next to his computer. The weapon hadn't seen use in a while, but the blade was razor sharp. "Good thing I kept this thing sharpened, eh?" he remarked. "It's been a while."

"Right." Leon turned and headed for the door, but paused while he grabbed his gunblade from the corner by the door. "Better hope you can still use that thing, Cid. There's been talk around town about the bailey being infested again."

Cid swore under his breath and slung the spear in its harness over his shoulder. _I'm gettin' waaayyy too old fer this crap. _

They hadn't gone far when the Heartless showed up—less than a block, in fact. Leon readied his weapon as the Heartless scuttled in. "Cid, I hope you're ready."

"Heh, I was born ready!" Cid bragged with a cocky rub of his nose. He pulled his spear off his back over his shoulder and twirled it once so it rested beside him in his right hand, the point angled down and away. It had been a motion surprisingly quick for a forty year old. "What?" he drawled at Leon's frowning glance. "I practice from time t' time."

"..." Leon didn't reply.

Cid shrugged. "Let's kick some Heartless _ass_!" he crowed.

"Whenever you're ready."

Cid dashed in like there was no tomorrow. "Ah-hall _righ'_!" He swiveled mid-rush-a spin slash—"Take that, ya creeps!" and his spear swung out, the blade tearing through several Heartless like they were just smoke. "That's three down!" Leon came hot on his heels, Revolver propped back on his shoulder.

"This is it." SWISH! He swung Revolver quickly; down to the left; WHOOSH!-across again, the other way. One Heartless down. _Assess targets; react; strike _was the mantra in Leon's head. It had been for years, even before the Heartless had…_no, don't go there._ But fragments of memories rose in his mind unbidden…

_...the stench of darkness made real as the gunblade flashed again and again…_

_A glimpse of iridescent angel wings…a soft, frightened smile from her…_

_…distant screaming…Another shout—running-the sounds of battle under an eerie sky illuminated by a looming meteor…one last flash of green-white light as he watched the meteor vanish into nothingness…_

_She was missing…he couldn't find her. Had to. He had to find the others!_

_ Voices—his new group—clamoring. "I can't leave!"_

_The Captain—laden with the smell of cigarette smoke and a heavy tenor drawl. _

_"Last bird outta here, kid! Tifa, Aerith, grab loverboy and get the #$%& on!"_

_ "No! NO!"_

_"Squall, there's no ti—" Arms—more than one pair, wrapping around his own, pulling-_

_ "Hurry up n' bring 'im on, kids! We gotta leave, right #$%&in' now!" _

_Rumbling…the city dwindling below as the ship rocketed off the ground…_

_"__NO! __**RINOA**__**!**__"_

The past…His parting scream, the sound of his own anguish echoing in his ears, made Leon's anger boil up hot and strong. "RAH!" He put his whole body into the next strike and knocked a few more off balance, then leapt up and hammered the blade into a Morning Star to take out his rising anger, pulling the trigger on his weapon as it came down. A pulse of energy burst along the blade, making it glow as it thrummed hard, gouging straight through the Heartless and slaying it.

"You still got what it takes?" He called out to Cid, who was surrounded by Shadows and Neoshadows.

Cid scoffed. "Fuck, yeah! Watch n' learn, rookie!" He whipped a stick of dynamite from a pouch on his belt while fending off the Heartless, paused, lit it with a handy lighter from his pocket, and chucked the dynamite at the nearest Heartless. "FIRE IN TH' HOLE!"

BOOM! The dynamite exploded and took half the Heartless with it. Cid ducked under the flying Heartless and cackled, pumping a fist as he came up on his feet. "HA! Take that, ya li'l bastards!"

Leon saw the flames part behind Cid and tensed. "Cid, watch out!"

"Whuh?" Cid spun and got his spear up just in time—it was a Flame Armor. "Whoa!" Metal hit metal—and the Heartless was soon winning, pressing Cid back. "Ah! Li'l help here 'fore I get my ass whupped 'ere!?" Cid bellowed through the strain. Leon rushed in and stabbed at the Heartless from behind to little effect. Deducing this, the Heartless knocked both men flying with an abrupt spinning blow. Cid smacked into the ground and groaned, but fought his way back onto his feet and charged in again, yelling some inventive strings of cuss words that would never be part of civilized conversation. Yelling like that, however, warns the enemy, and the Heartless were no exception. The Flame Armor wheeled and lashed out so fast Cid had to bend over backwards to avoid the arm-blade. Leon, on the other hand, kept his cool through the shock and recovered; a kick off the wall had him flying straight at the Heartless before it could react, his sword held back in readiness. "Here goes!" he shouted. The gunblade suddenly blazed a bright, bright blue, and Leon vanished in a blur and a wordless shout. He reappeared behind the Heartless, bent over with his blade held out in one hand as if he'd just slashed through something.

He had. The Heartless sagged and then split in two at the waist. As the dark creature dissolved, a heart floated up and vanished in a flash of color with a soft shimmering sound. Panting hard, Leon straightened and rested his gunblade on his shoulder. "Well…that was fun, for a change…" he mused breathlessly.

"Yer tellin' me!" Cid groaned. He struggled to his feet, using his spear as a crutch. "Ngghh…" His back popped and he grimaced. "Agh, my back ain't gonna be the same fer a while."

Leon lowered his weapon with a sardonic glance at the older man, clipping the gunblade into its usual place at his side before he folded his arms. "Then maybe you shouldn't've bent over so quickly," he pointed out.

"What, n' get skewered by that thing? Go talk to a fuckin' wall, Mister Commander!" Still, the aging pilot was rubbing his back ruefully as he took the first few steps. "Shit..."

"Whatever." Leon couldn't hold back a smirk as they made their way up the stairs to the bailey. "So…you're fixing up the _Shera_?" he asked when they were nearing the passage to the bailey. He glanced over at the older man. "Is that why you've been away sometimes during the week?"

"Been one'a my projects." Cid's toothpick shifted. "So's the ol' _Highwind_. Been a while since I flew either of the ol' girls," he remarked, pausing while he gazed off into space. "Of course, there hasn't been much time these days," he said with a helpless shrug.

Leon nodded. "Reconstruction's been picking up speed."

"Damn straight." Cid rubbed his nose again. "Would be nice if we had a flippin' operating airstation 'round here; could sure help with the castle."

"What about the old one just outside town?" Leon remarked.

"'S still there, Leon," Cid grumbled. "Got pretty much buried under a rockslide durin' Maleficent's invasion. The crews just got it dug out a week ago," he said, scowling, "and that's the fucking problem." He gave a derisive snort. "I can't get the local high-horses t' let me use it for a landin' area. Hell…or even a stagin' area. They won't let me do a damn thing other than keep it from collapsin'! They're claimin' it's too much work, it's useless, and that it's jus' a frickin' eyesore that needs t' be scrapped fer materials!" He followed that with a bunch of suggestions about what those "fuckin' pansy- asses" could do with their claims in his opinion, some of which were rather inventive and/or anatomically impossible. Leon didn't bother listening to this. He was brooding again, but not in his usual doom-'n-gloom way. No, this was flat-out thinking, and thinking hard.

Finally, he replied, "I doubt that's the case."

A rakish, disbelieving grin spread across Cid Highwind's craggy face. "Weeeelll, now…" He chuckled and slapped Leon on the back. "Then you 'n me are gonna be doin' a little political backstabbin', eh?"

Leon shot him a look. "Not exactly. More like…" he allowed himself a slight smirk, "…necessary subversive maneuvering of unwarranted restrictions," he rattled off with a straight face. His SeeD training from the old days had included diplomacy—not his strong point by default-and evincing obfuscation with strings of complex words was one of his lesser-known tactics. But it was also good for poking subtle fun at people.

Cid stared at the younger man for a long moment, and then let out a gut-busting "HA!" He clapped Leon on the back. "Yer a'right, kid. May not be much of a talker, but I'll take bad jokes from yeh over Yuf's shenanigans any day. Remember that one time she tried t' cook soup for lunch?"

"Don't remind me." Leon groaned as they headed into the bailey. "How she got that stuff to explode, I don't know…"

Cid's hearty guffaws echoed down the passageway.

To be continued...

* * *

**A/N: And so the plot thickens... I found Cid rather entertaining to write-though I decided to "bleep out" his...rather foul mouth. At first.**

Cid: What the fuckin' hell are ya doin' in 'ere?! Thet's mah computer, ya frickin' asshole!

Me: (covering ears) Geesh! Somebody get a bar o' soap and corner him for once! Ooh! What's this? (pulls out a bar of soap)


	3. Chapter 3

"There it is, Leon."

They stood a ways outside the town entrance, looking out at the broken, rocky landscape—which now included, off to the northwest, the humongous airstation the Committee had recently unearthed from a towering heap of broken rock. Leon eyed the structure with narrowed eyes. For the most part, it looked to be in pretty good shape. About three stories high and built a few hundred meters outside of town, it was still sound, even after years of being buried under the aftermath of a landslide, except for a few sectors that looked risky. The fact that it was rusty and damaged somewhat (and looked like crap because of it) didn't really help any, and the glow of massive temporary floodlights glowed from where they'd been set up around the perimeter.

Leon scoffed when he spotted a massive demolition crane and other equipment parked near it. They were not marked in any way—privately owned, most likely. "Tch. Looks like they're planning on taking it down anyway."

Cid went ramrod stiff, his eyes widened and he turned beet-red. A second later, he made a strangled noise and actually broke his toothpick, his jaw had clenched so tight. "Why, those stuck-up, kiss-ass, no-good, backstabbin' piles o' shit…!" he muttered. He added on a few more strangled curses while he dug out a new 'pick to replace the one now hanging in splinters. Once he'd spat the old one out and replaced it, he started chewing away at the wood, the pick bobbling up and down furiously as he wished yet again it was a cigarette. Now those were something he could've really taken his anger out on. Toothpicks usually meant splinters—and one of those in the lips hurt like a kick in the teeth, only worse.

Leon's eyes were steely as they walked past the various menacing hulks of machinery—several of them taken from the castle after the need for them had expired. "They'll hear from me about this, Cid. This place is our best bet for recovering residents who haven't made it back. Matters this important need to go through us first." He stopped in front of a particularly large crane with an evil-looking claw and looked up. His fists were clenched. "Going around the Committee isn't just a bad idea—it's stupid."

Cid grinned nastily beside him. "No kiddin'. So lemme guess…yer usual aggressive negotiations, eh?"

"No." Cid glanced over; Leon's grim look was uncompromisingly angry. "Just a visit from a lion that's had his tail stepped on by a pack of yapping hyenas."

Cid rubbed his nose in his typical way. "And an ol' fogey with a spear an' a helluva big bone t' pick with 'em."

"Right. By the way, we're gonna need all the room we can get up there, if more people start showing up in Gummi ships."

Cid frowned and glanced out at the massive building—it was easily two hundred meters long and just as wide. "Dunno when we ever built any Gummi ships that big, Leon."

"We didn't." Cid frowned again. Had Leon just agreed, or had he made another counterpoint? He searched his mind, trying to recall why the airstation had been so big, but nothing came to mind other than a fleeting recollection of a huge ship of some sort. Ah, forget it.

Leon jerked his head towards the old structure. "Come on."

The way up was accessible via a double door in the old parking garage in the base level. With barely any lights to guide them, Leon and Cid had to dig out their flashlights in order to see. Several times the Heartless managed to take them by surprise with an ambush, leaving the two men exhausted by the time they got to the hangar bay under the top floor.

"Watch it, the floor there looks unstable."

"Yeah, I know…" …_Crumble-__**crack**_… "Aw, shit."

"Aerith would bring out the old swear jar if she heard you like this."

"Do I fuckin' look like I give a crap? Help me get my foot outta this."

"Whatever." A minute of careful work had Cid's foot free from the hole in the floor.

"Thanks. Old geezers like me...ah, man…ain't got a place around old buildings."

"I thought you wanted to restore this place. And you're far from ancient."

"Shut up, Leon…" There came a load of mutterings from Cid as they headed for a strut-enclosed stairwell leading up. Oddly, there were no Heartless to be found, which had Leon feeling a little on edge. He couldn't shake the feeling there was something big lurking somewhere in the hangar. More than once he thought he saw something stir in the darkness, and distant, echoing sounds of motion kept him wary. Finally, they made it up the stairs and made their way onto the landing pad. The structure was, again, simply massive, built for VTO/L craft, airships that needed a mooring, or smaller aircraft that didn't need much of a runway. Cid stopped and heaved in an appreciative breath as Leon locked the door downwards behind him. "Ahh, yeahhh…the sweet smell of lubricant, motor oil, n' hot metal." He let out a big whoop. "I LOVE this town!" His voice echoed briefly across the rocky plains.

Leon rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "For about thirty seconds."

"Shuddup." Cid's retort was half-hearted. "Now if you wanna get this shitload 'a tech workin' ag'in, y' lissen ta me."

Leon groaned. Not this again. He'd been bad enough back in Traverse Town, bragging about how he was the 'first Gummi ace'. Now he was getting into the 'in my day' spiel on top of that.

"Where's the control center?" he asked before Cid could really start the ball rolling.

Cid halted mid-lecture and gave him a blank look. "Eh?"

Leon ticked off what he needed on one hand. "I need a working radio, binoculars, flares, and a generator. Think you can handle that?"

Cid had been completely defused by the interruption. For a long moment he just stared at Leon. Then he sighed and gave in. "Fine, fine, I'll get 'em…"

"Wait a sec, Cid," Leon told him. "I'll handle the radio. If you can get power back, that's good. If not, that's what the flares are for."

Cid nodded and trekked away across the landing area, whistling tunelessly past his toothpick.

Once the pilot had left, Leon looked around, assessing the damage and what could be salvaged up top. He quickly spotted what appeared to be the control building to his left, near the edge. The control center had been built in the corner to ensure a thorough view of the whole area. That would probably be the best place to start if he was going to get the power back online.

He was about to head over when he stopped for a moment and looked up. Something was coming—the air seemed thick with a strange anticipation. _Have to hurry_, he thought. He broke into a paced jog, his footsteps thudding on the thick metal surface, keeping a close eye out for any sign of trouble.

He'd nearly made it to the control building when a flicker of motion out of the corner of his eye made him stop dead in his tracks. "Huh-?" Leon whirled, staring up at the surrounding area. A low cliff was near this side of the airstation… had he seen something move? He didn't think so…but there had to have been something there.

Leon glared, took another step and was about to continue when a grumbling roar echoed up from the canyons, rising quickly in pitch. Out of nowhere a hulking shape flung itself over the edge of the low, slanted cliff just above the airstation and dropped like a pouncing shadow. Leon flinched and spun with customary deadly grace, raising Revolver, but he only had time to do that before the thing came in for a ground-shaking landing, screeching to a halt barely three feet away. Leon blinked as he realized just what the noise had been: a motorcycle engine. The rider was dressed in black for the most part, but that head of bright yellow hair spiked like a chocobo's backside was a dead giveaway.

"What the hell were you thinking, Strife?" he growled, recovering his composure.

Cloud—and it was indeed Cloud-shrugged and removed his riding goggles. "I'm just making sure it's running well," he called, over the deep growl of the engine. He swung off the bike as easily as if he'd gotten up from a chair and removed the key, while Leon stared at the thing. He found himself honestly taken aback; he'd never seen anything like this in his life.

The motorcycle was a huge, hulking mass of pure performance—a real piece of work. The body was black, while most of the essential parts were simply alloy. It had been fitted exclusively for speed and combat. The seat was surprisingly far back and took up only two-thirds of the rear end of the bike. The exhaust pipes were also gigantic, jutting up like coiled haunches on either side of the thick rear wheel. The front tire-no, tires, Leon saw, were connected to the rest of the bike and to the handlebars by two thick spars that obviously had hidden storage along with the usual shock absorbers and handlebars. The headlight, now dim as its power faded, gleamed from the space between the bike's forward struts, hidden just beneath the nose in the sweeping curve of the main body. Its length was low-slung and rather wide for a motorcycle, with an honestly intimidating flow to its shape, like a crouching wolf. It almost looked restless sitting still on those thick tires.

_Dark and dangerous but still heroic. How fitting, _Leon thought absently.

"Well?"

Leon glanced at the other man. "Is an answer a requirement?"

"No. Just wondering."

Leon stayed silent, forming some kind of an answer. "Model year?"

Cloud shrugged. "Not sure. I just…found it rusting away in an abandoned shed after you and the others started restoring the town. I didn't want to let it go to waste, so I dug it out, fixed it up. Just finished it two weeks ago, actually. I'm thinking once the real war is over I'll start a delivery service." A rare smile crossed Cloud's lips. "It's as fast as it looks."

"Don't tell me…" Leon said drily. "You used the Great Maw as a drag strip."

Cloud raised an eyebrow slightly. "How'd you guess?"

"I have sharp ears."

"Mm." That was all; it wasn't even a word. But Leon understood Cloud-speak just as well as Cloud understood him. Cloud was impressed he'd heard the engine.

"Does it have a name?"

"Fenrir."

Cid came up, out of breath but looking triumphant. He was lugging a case of equipment with one hand and pulling a battered electric generator with the other. "Got 'em, kid! Hey, Spike! Got that bike o' yers fixed, eh?" He dragged the blond swordsman over by throwing one arm across Cloud's shoulders, eager to do his usual mechanic's questionnaire. Cloud folded his arms and did his best to look uncomfortable and annoyed.

"He has. Speaking of fixing, I could use some help getting the air traffic station back online," Leon said, switching topics. "You think you can help Cid and me out?"

Looking faintly relieved as Cid shut up, Cloud nodded. "I'm game."

"All right. Grab your tools if you have them."

Leon managed to dredge up some spare parts from the old crate Cid had found after they'd found out the wiring needed to be spliced in the comms room. Cloud proved himself adept at rerouting wires, but especially at getting rusty panels open—having mako in one's body tended to help. The command center hadn't been fully nitpicked of its components yet, but the three were forced to jury-rig a lot of wiring and tubing for the computer cooling systems, as well as replace missing fuses. So far most of the computers were rebooting, running on generators.

Leon swore as a particularly stubborn console again refused his tapping and burbled another "reboot failed" answer screen. "Dammit!" How the hell was he supposed to find out whether his hunch was true? In frustration he brought his fist down on the top of the monitor, and was surprised when the screen sparked and erupted in streams of data—radar, flight records, airships…and finally, Radiant Garden's air and space research and flight data, as well as—oddly—the list of involved citizens and personnel. But first—Aha! Leon typed an entry into the search bar and immediately spotted the thing he was looking for.

PROJECT RAGNAROK: Experimental Airship

It was the first entry on the internal search engine. A slight grunt of intrigue escaped Leon as he leaned forward and, after clicking the link, began exploring. He ignored the fuzzy static lines that kept wavering up and down across the dim, cracked display. The _Ragnarok,_ he recalled, had been one of his more high-profile projects before the Fall of Radiant Garden: an immensely powerful airship, larger than any built previously. It had been built for space travel, which had never been attempted before. A few images sprang up onscreen: blueprints first, then still images of the massive ship under construction and finally completed. He noted the specifications carefully.

**Weight/Displacement: **

2,850 tons (without propellant, charge, nor occupants)

3,314 tons (with one third propellant, full charge, and full occupancy)

3,450 tons (with full propellant, full charge, and full occupancy)

**Length:** 108 meters

**Width:** 77 meters

**Height:** 54 meters (at rest), 65 meters (in flight)

**Max Speed:** 11.8 km/s

**Crew Size:** 4, including navigator and wireless operator.

**Occupancy:** Ten additional occupants

**Armament: **609mm Charged Particle Cannon (x1), 152mm Multi-barreled Laser (x2), Retractable mandible docking claws (x2)

**Propulsion: ** Reaction-model 12-step compression turbines (22,500kg propulsion) (x2), Reaction-model 6-step compression turbines (2,480kg propulsion) (x4)

All in all, it had been a spectacular project. Below the _Ragnarok's_ specifications was a list of people involved in the project. Leon leaned forward with an even more focused expression. Hmm…there were more names here that he recognized than he'd expected.

PERSONNEL:

_Cid Highwind, Captain,_ ("Of course," Leon murmured with a slight grin,)_ Airship Designer, Test Pilot and Aeronautical Engineer-in-Chief… Projects: Self-designed airships Shera & Highwind… Co-designer of experimental airship _Ragnarok…_ Pioneer in the Gummi Research Program…_

_Dr. Odine (this made Leon's lip curl in disgust) Researcher, Weapons Designer, Deputy Director of Garden Labs, Quantum Physics Theoretician… Chief Systems Designer of experimental airship _Ragnarok_… Projects: Airship _Ragnarok_…_

_Apprentice Even, Director in Chief (this made Leon scoff outright,) Experimental Design, Head of Radiant Garden Laboratory… Projects: _Ragnarok_, MX [classified], Replica Program…_

_Professor Hojo, Researcher, Head of Garden Labs Science Division… Project Consultant, fired by Ansem the Wise after revelations of illegal experimentation…whereabouts unknown._

_Reeve Tuesti, Head of City Project Development and Robotics… Director of airstation construction, completed X/XX/XXXX…trained as member of _Ragnarok_ technical crew…_

The next two names actually surprised him.

_Laguna Loire, President, City Administrator, Public Relations Department… Political counselor and second-in-command to Ansem the Wise…former infrantryman…Chairman of Garden Council…backup copilot trainee under Cid Highwind…_(_Hmmm, interesting_, Leon thought.)

_Head Governor Ansem the Wise, Head Researcher and Chief of State…Final Word on all projects…_

Leon was also surprised to see some old friends listed in the computer, mostly as visitors. Some of them, he'd heard, were already back; he'd already heard from Irvine others…well, he still had hope.

_Barret Wallace, Gunnery Expert…Vincent Valentine, former Turk…Irvine Kinneas, Sharpshooter, SeeD…Quistis Trepe, SeeD Academy Instructor…Zell Dincht, Martial Artist, SeeD…Zack Fair, SOLDIER 1__st__ Class, Airfield Security Cmdr.…Nanaki, local…Ellone Loire, adoptive daughter of Laguna Loire…Selphie Tilmitt, Nunchaku expert, SeeD… _

He nodded when he spotted his own name—listed as Acting Commander of the never-launched _Ragnarok_ mission-as well as most of the now-Restoration Committee.

_Yuffie Kisaragi, Ninja, White Rose of Wutai…Tifa Lockhart, Martial Artist…Aerith Gainsborough, Healer… _ Even Cloud had gotten involved at the airfield in one way or another—he'd been part of the security under Zack's command, and had worked his way up to SOLDIER 3rd Class. They'd all wanted to see what lay beyond the sky back then—the _Ragnarok_ had seemed to be the best way to do it. _Hmmm… _

_Garden Law Enforcement and Intelligence Division…Reno… Rude… Tseng… Elena… Cissnei…_

More names followed and Leon stopped to rub his scar, feeling a headache waiting to happen. Those people had been tough. They were, like the description said, the city's law enforcement and intelligence department-the so-called 'Turks'. Zack had been on good terms with them. Tseng was Head of Operations. Reno…was annoying. He'd strongly resembled another guy around town who liked to make trouble—Lea. Leon shrugged the little detail off. Then an entry caught his eye that made his skin crawl.

_~Sephiroth, General, SOLDIER 1st Class…status unknown…MIA since Mission J7 [classified]…Hero of Adel's Siege & Wutai War…only wielder of the legendary sword Masamune…_

Shivering, Leon scrolled down. He'd encountered Sephiroth twice. The first time had been back when Leon was in SeeD—also called the Garden Elite—while Leon had almost finished studying the gunblade. Sephiroth had done an inspection tour and had shown up at one of his training sessions. Even then the tall, silver-haired general had radiated an intimidating aura. But he'd been approachable, and had even seemed mildly impressed by Leon's skills. The second time…well, the man had apparently snapped; gone insane. That lone black wing…Leon shuddered at the memory of glimpsing Cloud's confrontation with the fallen general. It had been during the battle against Maleficent. The Heartless had been everywhere…yet they hadn't attacked Sephiroth when he'd appeared: they'd vanished in seconds. Masamune's eerie shimmer rose again in his memory and he quickly shoved it down. He didn't need a reminder. He stopped again.

_Braig… Dilan… Ienzo…_

The names leapt from the screen. Leon frowned. Why were those three involved in air and space projects? He'd met Braig back while he was in SeeD. Braig had been one of Ansem's apprentices; anything he didn't care about was met with a disdainful sneer, and the _Ragnarok_ had been one such topic. But Leon's search turned up nothing but two more names.

_Angeal Hewley, Commander, SOLDIER 1st Class…Deceased; circumstances unknown…involved in the Genesis Incident…1st wielder of the Buster Sword and mentor of Zack Fair… often teamed with fellow SOLDIERs Sephiroth and Genesis._

_Genesis Rhaphsodos, Commander, former SOLDIER 1st Class, status unknown…MIA, presumed dead…Orchestrator of the Genesis Incident…known for quoting the epic poem/play LOVELESS…often teamed with fellow SOLDIERs Sephiroth and Angeal._ (Leon decided to note the "MIA, presumed dead" detail just in case.)

And then he saw one last name.

_Rinoa Heartilly, Sorceress-in-training under Merlin the Wizard, pilot trainee under Cid Highwind, effective X/XX/XXXX…working with President Laguna Loire as PR Assistant and potential member of the _Ragnarok_'s crew…_

Finally, his task finished, (the _Ragnarok_ had taken off the day of the Fall) but with more questions than answers, he logged out and asked, "Are we ready?" He was hoping for a reply of some sort. But Cid was still muttering darkly and staring at a maintenance panel with a murderous gleam in his eye, and Cloud was…being Cloud. Leon sighed. "Cid."

"Screw off, Leonhart," Cid barked.

"Cid."

This time Leon injected a fair note of warning into his voice. That got Cid's attention…sort of. He turned around with a dark scowl. "Can't ya see I'm tryin' ta fix this shitty thing, asshat!?" he swore.

"I asked you a question. Is everything ready?"

His dark mood abruptly defused, Cid scratched at the back of his neck. "Well…I think so. Jes' gotta get this damn place turned on!" He harrumphed and folded his arms. "Why're you so interested all of a sudden?"

"Because I think we're going to need it. Soon."

Cid's oh-so-eloquent reply consisted of "Huh?" and then "Whaddya mean?" followed by "How come?"

"I have a feeling."

Cloud looked unconvinced. "A feeling?"

Leon grunted.

Cid scoffed, not noticing Leon's sudden cock of the head or his scrutiny of the night sky out the window. "You an' yer feelin's…Heh. When the hell're you gonna…" He trailed off. Leon was squinting out at the starry sky with a very intense look on his face. "Uhh, Leon?" he called. No answer.

Cid eyed the younger man and then decided to check out whatever had caught his attention. He looked out at the sky and shaded his eyes to focus his vision. Cloud looked out.

After a moment, Cid saw it, off to the southwest and high in the sky. He blinked. Looked again. Was one of the stars up there bigger? And it was even moving. "What th' hell…?" he muttered, hardly daring to believe it.

Leon nodded. "We've got visitors."

Cid's slow grin was a sight to see. "Well, butter me up an' call me a biscuit!" He swiped the side of his nose and banged the master power panel he'd been working on—which was still exposed, the wires and circuits in it dangling. Cid just happened to hit that certain fuse he'd been struggling with in particular. When it slotted in, sparks flew everywhere. With a loud 'BZZT!' followed by "YEOW!" and a loud thud, the entire aerodrome shuddered…and began to come to life.

The landing lights lining the edge and the mooring areas glowed dimly but began to brighten, some flickering, but all more or less on. The hiss and thud of laboring hydraulics and a hole opening in the deck out in the middle of the airstation announced the arrival of a vehicle lift from the second-level hangar. The lift had apparently died when the power here cut out. Leon watched in distant amazement as more clanking ensued outside and echoed from beneath. He saw a tiny little shrimp of an old airplane out on the cargo lift with some maintenance equipment canisters. That was all there was on the lift. Next, the floodlights and the interior lights blazed to life. Generators long deactivated began to hum softly. More hissing and clunking below decks signaled the initiation of more equipment and Leon turned to watch as a huge transmitter dish tower rose from a storage bay near the control center; the dish expanded outwards as it reactivated; sharp thunks from metal meshing over metal shook the entire place. Finally, with a slow thrumming sound, the initial surge of power finally leveled off and settled, lights flashing slowly here and there around the field.

For all intents and purposes, Radiant Garden's airstation was back online.

Cloud glanced around at the surrounding area, his mako-blue eyes displaying faint surprise as the control center finally came alive. Then he glanced down at a twitching Cid Highwind. "Nice going."

Cid groaned. "Ow…shiiiit…"

Leon rolled his eyes and gestured with one hand, healing the zapped pilot with a Cura spell. Cid groaned and lifted a hand to his head, cursing a blue streak. He was just about to rise to his feet when a faint sound reached Cloud's enhanced ears. The blond man stiffened and frowned. "What was that?"

Leon knew better than to brush Cloud and his hypersensitive hearing off. "Cid, quiet!"

Cid shut up and they listened intently for any sound.

…_thunk_…_thunk_…thunk…THUNK…**THUNK**… Cloud frowned as the sound got louder. "What is that?"

Leon's eyes widened; he could hear it, too. "Something's coming."

All of a sudden: **BOOM!** The whole place shuddered, making them stagger.

"What th' hell was that?!" Cid shouted, his stupor gone as he got to his feet. But Leon wasn't listening. He'd already grabbed his weapon from beside the door and was taking the stairs down two at a time. Cloud was hot on his heels. Cid swore again and followed, swinging his spear out and at the ready as he did. This was not good.

To be continued...

* * *

**A/N: **Well, looks like the hellfire's about to break loose! Tell me what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

The sight that greeted the three men when they reached the flight deck made Cloud tense up, Leon groan, and Cid say "Aw, shit…" again. A tremendous mechanical monster had torn its way up from the deck below via a large hangar entry nearby, tearing clear through the door. Leon glanced around quickly to make doubly sure the warning lights on the landing pad were activated. They were. He turned his grim blue eyes back to the matter at hand.

Colored a fading, rusty red, the mech moved on six crab-like legs that scuttled slowly back and forth. Its head was perched atop the main body like a big ovoid mass, with two huge pods attached on the left and right: twin cannons. Waving almost sinuously at the rear of the hulk was a thick, segmented, nasty looking tail with a large laser in the tip. But what had Cid swearing was the unmistakable symbol emblazoned on the front and two glowing yellow eyes. The thing was a Heartless!

"It's a Scorpion Mech!" Cloud yelled over the din. Reaching back over one shoulder, he drew his massive sword.

Leon raised his gunblade coolly. "Don't hold back."

"Fuck off, we know!" Cid sneered, satisfied to add his two munny's worth.

The trio took up positions around the giant Heartless, moving carefully so not to provoke it. It became a standoff as Heartless and heroes sized each other up. Leon had only encountered one of these before, and it had been nasty to deal with. Though slow, it had VERY durable armor and packed a LOT of heavy weapons. Leon pressed his lips together in an attempt to stave off the waves of fear rolling through his gut. _Even Sora might find this thing hard..._he thought.

Then the tension of the moment shifted. With a sudden creak of its joints the Scorpion Mech scuttled forwards and lunged at its closest target: Leon, its front claws spread in preparation to skewer him in a pincer maneuver. Leon jumped backwards with the grace of a lion, narrowly avoiding the sharp-tipped limbs. He looked up and scowled. _Speaking of nasty, _he thought savagely, _messing with me or my friends gets my temper going._

The Scorpion Mech didn't seem too pleased with having its prey escape and was just winding up for a barrage of cannon fire when Cloud and Cid took matters into their own hands. Cloud rushed it from behind, swinging mightily. The heavy blow from his huge sword made the Heartless stagger forwards just as Cid thrust his spear, aiming for the joint of one of the thing's armored legs. A deep groan of pain and a splash of shadowy ichor proved the tactic had worked.

Cid guffawed and pumped a fist. "How's that fer a good-?"

GRRRNNN… The Heartless shifted ponderously and its tail rose. Cid's roguish grin dropped as a laser sight activated on the Heartless's head, roving around. Leon instantly caught wind of its tactic and yelled, "Get behind it!" The three of them dove under or around the machine as it tried to find a target, barely making it out of the way in time.

"Phew…" Cid wiped his brow in relief. "That was too close fer comfort…"

Leon glared at the elder man. "Don't get cocky!"

Cid scowled. "Don't git yer britches in a knot, smart $$! I know!" he retorted. He rushed the Mech head-on as it turned around and he sprang into the air, using a little magic—grudgingly learned—to boost his leap. "HEY, HEADS UP, YA SONUVABITCH!" he crowed. WHAM! The Heartless almost collapsed from the heavy jolt as Cid slammed his spear into a large dent he'd noticed earlier, smashing the thing's armor apart at the point of impact. The mech, sensing it now had a rider, immediately tried to throw him off, bucking like a six-legged bronco, but Cid hung on. "_Yee-haaww_!" Whipping out another stick of dynamite, Cid lit it and managed to stuff the explosive into the crack he'd made in the armor casing. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" he whooped, and leapt clear not a moment too soon.

BOOM! A ball of fire blossomed on the right side of the mech's body, knocking it off-balance. Cloud took another heavy series of swings and knocked the monster back the other way with a final blow. Cid gave a cocky swipe at his nose in triumph, but the Heartless retaliated with an all-out assault.

Rounding on Cloud, it lunged forward with a roaring shriek of creaking metal and protesting armor, glowing black and red from the force of its fury. It came in slashing with its heavy front legs and caught Cloud head on before he could dodge. The blond ex-SOLDIER went flying towards the control center, stopped only when he hit a light pole that happened to be in his way. The blow knocked him out cold and buckled the light almost double. Leon winced and abruptly found the Heartless aiming its cannons dead at him.

Swearing, he tried to dodge, but it was too late. "UGH!" He staggered backwards. White-hot pain blossomed across his front as the monster fired a hail of energy bullets. Before Leon could even recover from that he found himself being targeted again. The Heartless spun towards him, sliding on its underbelly and viciously lashing out with its huge tail. A blast of its cannons as it came round again sent him flying, and his world inverted for a horrible second before he slammed headlong onto hard unforgiving ground, bleeding from several wounds.

"Kid!" Cid yelled. He heard the man's spear slamming into the Mech and the resulting groans and creaks of pain from the monster. He was too far away, though—at least twenty meters away. _This thing's that strong…?_ Leon wondered dimly as he struggled over onto his front and hoisted his body up on shaking arms. He felt like a Behemoth had just stomped on him…followed by a train running him over. He had a horrible sinking feeling it was more than just a guess.

"Get back!" Leon groaned. He waved Cid off as the Heartless closed in again. Strife was still out of it, damn him. Groaning, his grip on his weapon shaking but still firm, Leon got to his feet. He raised the gunblade, ignoring the lancing pain in his shoulder. "Damn it…" He'd forgotten to stock up, foolishly believing he wouldn't need any healing items. _All those years of always staying alert and prepared for anything these monsters can throw at me, _he thought, _and now I'm already in bad shape with nothing to heal myself with. Yuffie will never let me hear the end of it. _His entire body throbbed and he gritted his teeth again. He tried to gather his magic to summon Griever, but he was exhausted and the energy needed would have killed him. "The old fashioned way, then…" he rasped. With a shout of rage he ran in and rained a hail of heavy blows that would have badly damaged a lesser monster. But with something this big and this armored, he only dealt minor hits. The Heartless seemed triumphant at the failure and knocked him back with a heavy blow to the midsection, eager to toy with him as it leveled its weapon pods at the leather-clad swordsman. Another barrage of gunfire thundered out, but this time Leon was able to recover in time. Gesturing quickly, he cast a barrier spell that sprang up around him, diverting the cannon fire. Taken by surprise, the monster stepped backwards.

"Well, how do you like THIS?!" Leon roared, already charging Revolver. The sizzling red energy shot out as he slammed his gunblade down to the ground in a hammer blow, activating the trigger. A red wave flew up and outwards in a line of pure destructive magic. When the explosion hit, it nearly blew the Heartless off its feet. Not bad…

As Leon got to his feet again, Cid ran up. "You okay?"

Leon started to say 'I'm fine' but then his sight wavered. He shut his eyes with a groan. Why did he feel so…weak? He tried to stay on his feet, but his legs wouldn't cooperate, dropping him to one knee on the deck. "Yeah…"

Cid snorted. "Don't bullshit me, Leon. Git yer bitchin' ass outta here!"

Leon's eyes refocused, but what he focused on made him gasp, and he raised his head in alarm. Behind Cid, the Heartless was readying its main laser—and the sights were locked dead on them both. "CID, LOOK OUT!" he roared, fatigue forgotten.

Cid whirled around and swore. "Oh, flyin' motherfu-!"

Too late. The Heartless—looking very battered and VERY angry-stabbed its legs into the metal deck. With an ominous hum the tail shot up and over its rear end much like its namesake's, the bulbous, pointed tip sizzling with energy. Leon squeezed his eyes shut just before the laser beam swept across a huge swath of the deck, leaving a sizzling trail of destruction in its wake. Fire and pain wracked his entire body as the explosion engulfed the three of them—Cid, Cloud and himself. Noise and agony were all he could register as another, different sound roared, but Leon's pain-drenched mind dismissed it, already overloaded by pain from the laser assault. Unnoticed by any of them was the Scorpion Mech, which suddenly staggered back as a barrage of heavy gunfire hit it from one side.

_So this is how it ends… _Leon thought as he fell forwards bonelessly. Shuddering, he barely found the strength to raise his head and open his eyes. He could smell scorched fabric. His leather jacket was smoking from the lingering heat.

Cid groaned from somewhere nearby, swearing in pain, but through the fog clouding his vision, Leon could make out a huge, blurry shape hovering in the air behind the Heartless, the gleam of bright red paint silhouetted in the light from below. The thundering noise continued, and now the Mech seemed to be taking a tremendous amount of hits, staggering drunkenly as flashes struck and sparked against its deteriorating armor.

What?

That huge shape hovering over the landing center… Was it…a Gummi ship? And that thundering was cannon fire.

"Wha…?" he managed to gasp. The Heartless let out a deep mechanical groan and exploded in a ball of flames, shaking the deck. Barely conscious, Leon managed to roll onto his side, lifting his torso on one elbow and supporting himself with his other arm, struggling to see what had intervened. But he couldn't make it out for certain. As he finally collapsed onto his back, he saw the stars over him vanish as that huge shadow descended with a deep rumbling of rocket engines. _Rockets…_Leon thought. _So…maybe it's a friend…_

He barely heard the hiss of an exit ramp descending. As the blackness clouding his vision to edge inwards, he thought, for the briefest instant, that he heard someone he knew calling his name.

_"…Squall!"_

_…I must be…losing it…_Leon barely managed to think, before he slipped into the blackness and knew nothing more.

* * *

The huge shape that Leon had glimpsed was not a Gummi ship. But it was by no means an illusion. The gigantic draconian airship known as the _Ragnarok_ was what the gunblade specialist had glimpsed. Painted a still-sizzling crimson red, it easily dwarfed Cid's battered _Highwind_ and had been years ahead of its time when it was built. But in this case, the humongous airship had barely managed to arrive in time.

When she'd seen the huge machine-like monster fire what had to be a blazing hot laser across a swath of decking, Rinoa Heartilly had cried out in pain. She'd felt the pain of one of the warriors lying in the laser's path-quite literally. Immediately, she'd leapt to the gunnery station to stop the hurt she'd felt when the laser hit. Zell—good old Zell—had brought the ship in like a pro while she'd blown the giant creature to smithereens. It had been rather satisfying, doing that.

When the _Ragnarok_ had only just landed, she was already dashing down the opening exit ramp, leaping to the ground and running with all the speed she possessed towards the scarred aftermath of the battle she'd interrupted.

She was just drawing near when she called _his_ name. "Squall!"

The three figures lying on the deck were all in bad shape, but Rinoa only had eyes for the one lying on his back. Only one person had ever worn that jacket and wielded that still-gleaming gunblade lying on the ground nearby.

Squall Leonheart.

As she drew close enough to see him clearly, she slowed. Her dark brown eyes—almost black, still gleaming with spirit—roved over the young man she was approaching. Her sweet face—a little older and all the more pretty for it-was framed by her long black hair, which wafted behind her in a flowing trail. She still dressed primarily in blue and black, and her outfit was more or less identical to the one she'd worn at 17.

Slowing to a brisk walk, Rinoa came up beside him out of the lingering smoke, knelt, and gently gathered him up in her arms, cradling his shoulders and head in her lap. He didn't move. She saw immediately how he'd changed. Most noticeable was his hair. It was longer and fuller, having grown down to just below the base of his neck in the back and grown out considerably on the sides. His face had become a bit leaner and more grown-up with the years, but it was also less harsh than it used to be. He was taller, too, and his outfit had changed slightly to suit his needs. But several things—the scar on his face chief among them, but also his overall attire: the fur-collared leather jacket, the belts crisscrossing his waist, his black, zippered pants and leather gloves—those hadn't changed much at all since the day she'd last seen him.

As she stroked his face, trying to wake him up and running her fingers through his hair as she did, a horrible possibility crossed her mind. Her wistful, tender expression faded away to be replaced by a worried frown. Could it be that…? She shook him gently. He didn't respond.

"Squall…?" This time she said it softly, as fear clutched at her heart.

No response. He didn't even seem to be breathing. For a seemingly eternal moment, she stayed there, cradling him, in the middle of a battered, battle-scarred airstation, in shock, gazing at his seemingly sleeping face and utterly lost on what to do. She moved her hand and felt his chest for that telltale throb-the strong, stubborn heart of a lion he held inside...but found nothing.

Rinoa's fist tightened on his sleeve as the hope she'd held faded into the abyss. She looked away, unable to bear it. _It can't be… _her mind cried out. _Not Squall! Not again, after all this time… _

Her face crumpled. With a broken sob she buried her face in his shoulder. _Come back!_

In the midst of her grief, a shockwave of magical power burst out of her in a great flash of light that lit up the night. Even Radiant Garden's castle towers gleamed in the distant flash. A few glowing feathers flew up on the breeze the flash stirred up, wafting across the rocky landscape and over the town. Even Rinoa was awed by her own involuntary magic, lifting her head to gaze at the glow that still suffused the air and the magical feathers slowly drifting on the evening breeze. Without Rinoa's notice, several of those feathers drifted down onto the man in her arms...and sank into his very body, leaving only a faint glimmer behind.

That changed in an instant

A faint noise made her look down-the sound of air rasping suddenly down a throat. Unable to believe it, Rinoa watched as deep, serious blue eyes flickered open...and found hers.

"Ri…" His voice. Still low and vivid like a lion's growl, still with that very slight sardonic edge, but it was barely audible. He paused to find it. "…Rinoa?"

Whatever shock or sorrow Rinoa might have felt a second ago was gone now. With a radiant expression blooming on her face and sobbing tears of joy, she pulled him close and buried her face in his jacket again. "Squall!"

He tensed, not quite sure what to do.

Rinoa didn't care. "I'm right here."

"Rinoa…?" The uncertainty in his voice made her look up. Having regained his strength slightly, he tried to rise, so she helped him sit up. "Am I…dead?" he asked carefully. He apparently still needed to check.

Shaking her head, smiling and still weeping for joy, she found his face with her hand and cupped his cheek. "Didn't you get my letter?"

He looked at her, as a child would if seeking comfort and reassurance from a parent. Rinoa tilted her head and smiled at him in the way she knew he loved. Finally, he replied. "Yeah…I did."

Almost in a trance, he reached up and gripped the hand cupping his cheek. His eyes held the question he didn't want to voice: _Is this real?_ But then he froze. What if…? The thought flashed across his face; most would have missed it. But he turned serious in the blink of an eye. "Are you really Rinoa Heartilly?" he asked, his voice sharp. The young woman—maybe her, maybe not—looked completely shocked.

"What? Squall, I…"

A faint smile showed despite his suspicion. "Show me your wings, then, angel."

Rinoa's bewildered look softened, and she smiled as she understood. A faint golden-white glow began to emanate from her and two glowing angel wings materialized on her back, flaring open with a faint whoosh of air. Their combined span was easily four or five meters. Then they vanished, and Leon knew for sure that this was Rinoa. He could barely bring himself to believe it. Almost eleven years without her, and here she was. A little older and dressed just a little bit different, but it was her.

His angel.

Rinoa.

A sound-almost a moaned sob-filled with combined relief, love, and joy escaped him. Without warning he sat upright, gathered her up and swept her into a tight hug as he almost leapt to his feet, spinning her round and round. Laughing and crying all at once, Rinoa let out a laugh from the vertigo and excitement before he slowed down. She gasped for breath for a brief moment and looked down at the face that had kept her going for what had seemed like forever. "We made a promise, remember?" she murmured.

A genuine smile lit his face, and he set her down for a second, reached up, and caught one of the still-drifting feathers. "How can I ever forget?" he replied, gazing at her. Then he pulled her close again. "Gods, angel, I missed you…"

"I missed you, too…" she replied softly.

A moment later he ducked his head and looked away, pulling back. "I'm sorry…"

Rinoa tilted her head and shifted her feet, twining her hands together behind her back to taking on a catty, wondering pose. "Sorry for what, Squall?" she asked, almost teasing.

Leon sighed. "For not being fast enough to save you. I…I couldn't…" He trailed off, choking on his words.

Rinoa shook her head slightly. He still didn't know how to let go of failures. "I can take care of myself, you know," she replied. He flinched slightly as she put a hand on his arm. "I'm a big girl, remember?"

"I don't want you to get hurt." He kept his gaze averted.

"Silly… You haven't changed much, have you? You're still…" she waved her hands aimlessly, "…bottling everything up inside." Leon looked up at her. It was her most endearing trait, that one: her ability to be silly and naïve, and still see past all his shields into his heart. Leon smiled. Rinoa tilted her head in confusion. "What?"

"You are so…"

"Sweet? Cute? Amazing?" she said, smiling impishly.

"All of the above, Rin." Leon pulled her into a hug. "I missed you so much." The two of them just held each other for a while.

For an eternal instant, all was right with the world.


	5. Chapter 5

It was only a minute later that a low groan drew their attention. "Ugh…" It was Cid, and he was just waking up, struggling to orient his arms under his torso so he could get to his feet.

Leon walked over and bent down to help his older friend. "Hey, take it easy."

"Since when have I ever #$%&in' taken it easy, Leon?" Cid growled as the younger man hoisted him to his feet. Cid brushed the younger man off once he found his footing. "Y' wanna help, then get off mah back! Now fuck off!"

"Ahem!" The sound of a throat being cleared made Cid raise his head fully. He found a young woman in blue standing right in front of him with a ticked-off expression on her face, tapping her foot.

Needless to say, Cid was baffled. "Uhh…" He looked over at Leon. "Who's the chick?"

Rinoa harrumphed and an angry blush flushed her cheeks. "Chick?" she said sharply. It was almost a snarl.

Leon felt he was being sandwiched between a rock and a hard place; he rubbed his scar to ward off the impending 'sweatdrop moment'. "Cid," he finally said with a patience he did _not_ feel, "this is Rinoa. Rinoa, this is Cid. You remember him, right?"

Rinoa nodded, her expression still stern, her fists still planted on her hips. "I see his smart mouth still hasn't changed, huh?"

Cid frowned. _Waaaiiit a minute… _He blinked again and his right eyebrow rose in increments as memories of this girl began to come back. Then he shuffled a bit, readjusting his flight goggles-feeling a little awkward for once-and rubbed his neck apologetically. "Heh…It's been a damn long while, huh, Rinny?" he finally remarked.

Rinoa's reaction was surprising. A smile growing quickly on her face, she stepped forward and hugged the aging pilot. Cid went ramrod straight in surprise. "Whuh-?"

"Oh, Cid, you're such a big softy! And you're just getting softer with age. How've you been?"

Cid rubbed his chin stubble as she stepped away. "Eh, been fine, 'cept I had'ta quit smokin' an' my mouth got toned down by a flower girl with a goddamn swear jar." Rinoa giggled. Cid scowled and went on. "Been helpin' Leon get the place fixed up-"

Rinoa frowned—the name change was news to her. "Leon?"

Cid nodded and jerked a thumb at the guy next to him. Rinoa gave 'Leon' a quizzical look, but he shook his head. "I'll explain later," he murmured.

Cid harrumphed. "Anyway, the town's been needin' some major repairs n' all, so a bunch of us made this, er…city Restoration Committee o' sorts. A buncha my old pals from my younger days, plus Mr. Doom-n'-Gloom over there." He jerked his chin at Leon, who rolled his eyes.

"Really…" Rinoa folded her arms for a moment, tossing her boyfriend an endearing look. "Well, anyways…" She turned away from Cid, who looked a little chagrined about not getting to explain the Committee further until Rinoa told him, "How about you tell us all about that later, Cid. Is that all right?"

Cid brightened. "Yup! That's jes' dandy, you betcha! We've got a lotta intel to catch up on, though…" He paused. "Wait, whaddaya mean by 'us'?"

Rinoa tried to hide a giggle. "Please. You really don't think I'd ever be able to fly that huge ship all by myself, now, would you?" she inquired, pointing at the massive dragon-like airship looming over them. Leon was a bit taken by surprise when she grabbed his arm as she headed for the ramp. "Come on!"

"Wait a second…"

"No excuses! There's people who're dying to see you again!"

A faint gleam came into Leon's eyes. "What?"

Rinoa touched the corner of her mouth in a lively, teasing way as she smiled. "You'll see."

They had just reached the underbelly of the massive airship when a shout from the head of the ramp made them glance up. Leon's eyes widened. "Laguna?! Ellone?!"

Moments later a slim, middle-aged man with long, greying black hair ran down the ramp toward them, his eyes aglow with relief. Right behind him was a slightly shorter young woman with bob-cut brown hair, wearing a blue knit vest, a white skirt, and a green shawl that lay draped over her forearms. "Squall!" Laguna grabbed the gunblade wielder in a bonecrushing hug before Leon could even begin to react.

Leon blinked. Unsure how to go about this, he managed to say, "Dad…"

Laguna Loire stepped back after a second to look his son up and down. "Heh, you've gone and grown up on me, haven't ya?" he said. His voice was full of an ageless energy that made him sound a lot younger than his fifty years. He wore a well-worn blue jacket, brown combat-issue pants and black boots that still fit after years of wandering the worlds. Settled on a strap across his back was Laguna's trusty, battered-looking machine gun, along with a few other 'tools of the trade'.

Leon swallowed and managed to nod once. "You could say that," he admitted. He turned to the young woman—his adoptive older sister, only a few years older than he. "Sis…" he managed.

Ellone's eyes shone. "Come here..." She pulled him into a hug that showed her strength despite her slight figure.

Laguna was oblivious to this and turned around to yell up the ramp. "Hey, come on down, everybody! He's here!"

And Leon found himself swamped as three more people ran down the ramp and engulfed him in one big reunion hug. He managed to extricate himself quickly and took in the sight of the people around him in awe and surprise.

"Irvine…?"A tall, long-haired cowboy sporting a shotgun and dressed in a ragged-hemmed tan duster, a black shirt and blue vest, brown chaps over black trousers, and a battered black cowboy hat grinned as his name was uttered.

"Quistis…" A woman with long blond hair down either side of her face and the rest up in a clip set high in the back nodded. She wore glasses, and wore a dark pink jacket/skirt ensemble worn over black pants and boots. A chain whip lay coiled at her right hip. She was only a year older than Leon was, but she acted older. "Still to the point, eh, Squall?" she asked, a small smile tugging at her lips.

He ignored this. "Zell…? Oh, great." Zell Dincht, SeeD martial artist extraordinaire, loud and brash-with a head of hair spiked to nearly rival Cloud's and a large tribal-style tattoo sprawled across the left side of his face-grinned at first, but then he scowled and folded his arms when his old friend's added remark registered.

"Thanks a ton, Squall…" he muttered.

Leon chuckled. "I was kidding, Zell."

Zell's reaction was one of gobsmacked disbelief. The others also looked a bit taken aback. Behind Leon, Cid was grinning from ear to ear. "Guys…? Did…did I just make Squall Leonheart…laugh?" Zell spluttered, looking at each of his friends.

"I'd say that's the case," Laguna remarked, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "You okay, son?" he asked with a smile on his face.

"He's fine," Rinoa remarked before Leon could get a word in edgewise. Leon blushed. _Rinoa…you're doing it again, _he thought. "He's just not sure whether this is all just a dream." She smiled up at him as sweet as could be. "Isn't that right?"

_You know I'm ri-ight,_ she sent in a sing-song tone through their bond, which, he could sense, was already starting to strengthen itself.

Leon stared at her for a full three seconds before he ducked his head away. "Whatever…"

Rinoa gaped at him before she stomped her foot in almost-outrage. "Meanie!" she whined.

That did it. He couldn't hide his wry smile any longer as his old friends-his almost-family, really-began to laugh at Rinoa's trademark outburst.

"Okay, fine. This can't be a dream." He looked up and smiled, but then he frowned. "Wait. Where's Selphie?"

The others shifted. "We can't find her anywhere," Rinoa said, her expression downcast. "We figured she's either dead or just…gone."

Leon winced, but then something occurred to him. "…Didn't she vanish before the battle even happened?"

Irvine shifted in thought. "Yeah, you're right…"

Leon was on a roll. "Right around the time that little girl from around here disappeared."

"She was out babysitting her, I think. A part-time job," Quistis remarked.

"So she's still alive. Maybe." Leon sighed in relief. "Good." He'd come too close to losing everyone once. Giving up hope on Selphie again would be stupid. Then Cid cleared his throat loudly and snapped them back to the moment.

"Get yer head outta yer ass an' outta the fuckin' clouds, already!" he drawled, loud and even more brash than Zell. He swaggered forward and offered brusque handshakes. "Y'all remember me, don'tcha? Cid Highwind, at your service!" He and Laguna traded a particularly firm and friendly one, both men grinning at each other.

"We took real good care of her, Cid."

"Ain't that dandy. Y'all hadn't and I'd be throwin' ya inta the damn thrusters! And then I'd drag y'all back from hell jes' ta kill ya agin!"

Laguna chuckled. "I'll bet."

Quistis smiled politely at Cid as she shook his hand. "It's good to see you again, Captain."

Cid chuckled. "Hey, finally; a woman who remembers a guy's rank 'round here!" he said warmly. "How ya doin', Quiss?" Leon noted that—even Cid respected the young SeeD instructor.

"Well enough, thanks."

Cid was just about finished when footsteps approached the shadow of the _Ragnarok_. Leon turned to see Cloud approaching. The young fighter was looking a bit dazed and more than a little confused, dragging his huge sword with him. The grate of metal on metal was faint but constant, and he saw Irvine staring at Cloud in surprise at how the man was even lifting such an enormous weapon, especially when he was injured.

"What's going on?" Cloud asked. Then he stumbled and winced, putting a hand to the back of his head in pain, keeping the other arm taut.

Leon went over to help, but was waved off by the blond swordsman. "Here." He handed Cloud a potion bottle.

Cloud was about to uncork it when Rinoa came over and lay a hand on his arm gently. "Let me help."

Cloud looked up and blinked. "Tifa?" he asked, his voice going very soft. Leon turned away to hide his awkward look. That put a twist on things.

Rinoa giggled. "Nope; I'm Rinoa."

A small shifting of expression was Cloud's only display of reaction, but he managed to convey gratitude and recognition in that single look. "Cloud Strife," he replied. "Yeah, I remember you."

At a questioning look from the sorceress he nodded wordlessly. Rinoa laid both hands on him before the customary Cure glow emanated from her. "Heal." The glow shifted and settled on Cloud after a moment, drifting across and into his injuries.

Cloud heaved a sigh of relief as the pain went away, and he flipped his sword up and over his shoulder, letting it catch on the magnet he'd fixed up to use as a harness. "Thanks."

Rinoa nodded and left to rejoin the rest; Cloud turned to Leon. "Who're they?" he asked, looking over Leon's shoulder.

"Old friends," Leon replied, "and family. From the left, that's Irvine, Quistis, Laguna, Ellone, and Zell."

Cloud nodded by way of a greeting. "Hey."

Irvine tipped his hat to the young ex-SOLDIER. The others waved, but it was Zell who dropped a bit of a bomb on the seriousness of it all. His eyes wide, Zell stared at the huge sword on Cloud's back before saying, "How the heck do you use that thing, dude?!" in a rather loud tone of voice.

Chuckling greeted this question as Cloud stared at him blankly. Leon facepalmed. "Zell…" _Will you just shut up for once in your life…?_ he thought.

"I'm ex-SOLDIER," Cloud said. He shrugged. "Sort of."

The others left hastily, retreating back up into the airship to avoid the spectacle that might follow. Zell pumped a fist. "Far out! That's cool!" He turned as Quistis called for him and ran up into the _Ragnarok_. Rinoa and Laguna, who'd both lingered, went up right after him.

"Is he always like that?" Cloud asked Leon in an undertone, leaning over a bit.

Leon lowered his hand just enough to mumble, "Don't ever give him coffee."

Cloud chuckled softly as he glanced back at Zell. "He…reminds me of Zack."

"No surprise there…" Leon muttered. He let his hand drop away and folded his arms. 'Loud' was only one way to describe Zell. "Remind me never to let those two meet," he added as the thought made him shudder.

Cloud smirked in reply. "No kidding. Zack was the king of pranks in SOLDIER."

"Hey, you two! Quit dawdling and come help!" The SeeD Commander and the ex-SOLDIER glanced up. Rinoa was waving them over.

Leon sighed. _She's still the same after so long…damn. _But it was a good 'damn'. He looked off at the accent-lighted turrets and towers of Radiant Garden's outer wall and the castle beyond, feeling rather pensive. The massive place towered over the airstation from a safe and close distance like a gentle, wounded and recovering sentinel. _So much has changed, _he thought, _but a lot's still the same. _

A faint command followed by a sudden bark echoed from the ship as Leon and Cloud headed up the ramp, and there followed the distant, approaching skitter of scampering paws. Leon had just enough time to brace himself as he reached the top before a brown and white Border collie with a stumpy tail pounced on him, jumping up, almost reaching his face, wriggling like a puppy and practically yelping for joy. He endured the slobber-fest for a moment before he could get a word in. "Angelo, hey! Down, girl, down!" He got another happy yelp and a good licking for his troubles. "Hey; _down_," he repeated sternly. _So Angelo made it out, too,_ he mused as Angelo calmed down enough to let him bend down and give her a good rub behind the ears. He glanced up: Cloud was trying hard not to laugh. "You tell Yuffie and you're dead at our next sparring match, Strife."

"Wouldn't dream of it." For once, Cloud was perfectly serious.

"A-ngelo! C'mere, girl!" The dog leapt up and ran over to Rinoa, who'd been waiting a short distance away. Leon rose to his feet and folded his arms, watching as Rinoa crouched down and gave her faithful friend a good rubdown, cooing her usual "Aren't you a good girl, huh? _Yeah…_!" and other such praises while Angelo enjoyed every single minute of it, her tongue lolling in a doggy grin. If he didn't know better he would have sworn the dog threw a snooty "Rinoa-loves-me-best" look his way.

He smirked and looked around to take in the sight of the main hold of the _Ragnarok_. Eleven years, and it had barely changed at all. Slightly dim lights, red, white, tan and black color accents along with the usual metal…yep. Same old ship.

"Where is everyone?" Cloud asked, getting straight to the point.

Rinoa glanced up from petting Angelo. "They're probably up in the passenger's quarters packing everything." She grinned sheepishly. "Everyone, um, kind of…collected a lot of stuff while we were gone."

"I can imagine…" Leon remarked with a teasing glance. They proceeded up the stairs. Cloud trailed slightly behind and listened like an intense but benign shadow, not speaking but for the occasional time when Rinoa or Leon directed a question at him as they wound their way through the _Ragnarok_. They'd almost reached the passenger compartment when Rinoa dropped the mother of all non sequiters on their conversation.

"So, who's this Sora kid I've been hearing about?"

Leon stared at her in outright disbelief. Cloud raised an eyebrow, and Leon turned and glared at the blond SOLDIER. "Strife?"

"Yeah?" Cloud put on his usual distant face.

Leon kept his glare on full bore; he wasn't fooled. "Shut it."

Rinoa gave a laugh of her own at Cloud's scowl and retort of, "I didn't say anything."

"Come on," she said. "Let's see what the rest are up to, shall we?"

The door past the lift up to the cockpit led into the passenger section. Rinoa keyed the open door button while glancing back at them. "Well?"

Leon feigned disinterest. "Where'd you hear about him?"

Rinoa screwed up her face in thought as the door hissed open. "Um…this place called, uhh…" She paused for a long moment to think before her face brightened as she remembered. "Oh! This place called Wonderland, for one." She shuddered. "Boy, that place was weird. And…Olympus or something…"

"The Coliseum?" Leon and Cloud asked at the same time.

Rinoa nodded. " You've been there?"

"Yeah." Leon folded his arms. "I've been there a few times. Why did I never hear about you being there? I asked around for months and no one knew."

Rinoa just grinned. "Well, I only went there about a year ago." She frowned and hit the button when the door tried to slide shut again. "Funny…I ran into a few people in long black coats."

"Long black coats?"

"Yeah." Rinoa went into the passenger compartment, speaking over her shoulder. Leon and Cloud followed. "This one guy named Axel looked just like that one guy around town." ("Lea?" Leon asked. She nodded.) "He even acted like Lea." She paused. "Weird, huh?"

"Mm." Leon pulled her to one side once inside the door, while Cloud went past to help pack up. He met her eyes with a steely look. "Rin, that was Organization XIII. They were a group of Nobodies who were trying to use Sora's power. You were lucky you weren't hurt."

"So?" She pointed at herself. "Remember; you're looking at a Sorceress here, Squall."

He sighed. "Whatever." He decided to disregard the miffed expression on her face. It usually just means some childish form of payback, if memory served correctly. "Look, the Committee found out that the Organization was founded by the Nobody of Xehanort. King Mickey Mouse told us. He was…nervous."

Rinoa gasped. Even with the powers she possessed, she knew all about Xehanort, the man who'd reduced her home to ruins. But she instinctively understood that he was not a force to be taken lightly. At all. King Mickey…well, she'd seen him, before the Garden even fell. The rumors of a small mouse-like visitor from another world had abounded for weeks until Merlin finally dragged her up to Ansem's office to meet the diminutive monarch. Even now the memory of the squeaky, wise little fellow who looked NOTHING like a king made her smile to herself.

That Mickey harbored fear of the man was warning enough. For a moment, she couldn't even find her voice through the shock. "Him?!"

Her Knight nodded. "He went by the name Xemnas." His scarred visage was grimmer than usual. "According to Sora, he had control over the essence of nothingness itself."

"What?"

This time it was Cloud who spoke. "He wasn't called the Superior for no reason."

Processing the information as Squall—well, Leon, anyway-relayed her the details, Rinoa realized just how lucky she had been not to meet the more…unscrupulous members of the Organization. Her knees locked and a wave of nausea washed over her. She barely registered Squall's hands on her shoulders as she managed to plop down in a nearby seat, hugging herself instinctively as her stomach roiled and churned. Her friends gathered around, but that didn't distract her, not even when Squall sent them off. Before she could fully break down, however, a gentling rumble of power echoed through her mind and she felt the presence of a familiar summon—Griever; the Guardian only she and Squall could summon. The winged lion's voice echoed in her mind like tamed thunder._ Ease your fears, Lady Rinoa. Fate favored you and your companions; be grateful for this. Do not dwell upon what might have come to pass._

_But…_

_ Don't. _The unique summon almost sounded like a stern instructor. The very thought gave her the sudden absurd urge to giggle. The very thought of the massive summon attempting to teach a group of shaking SeeD and SOLDIER cadets about anything made for a very…amusing scene.

The summon did not comment on the strange scene playing in Rinoa's mind. He seemed almost sympathetic. _I understand your fears. _Rinoa frowned in confusion as her train of thought broke off. What does he mean by that? she wondered. Griever seemed to find this a bit morbidly amusing. _Even summons such as I feel emotions, unlike most of the group that Knight Lion-heart speaks of. _

_ Most of?_

Griever gave a rumble. _The ones you encountered were…different. _He did not elaborate further and quietly departed from her thoughts.

She looked up into Squall's face. "Rin?" he asked.

She smiled tremulously. Whenever the summon wished to speak to one of them alone, he usually occupied much of their attention. "Griever." His face eased at the explanation.

"What'd he say?"

"Not to worry about what might've happened. That's all. 'K?"

He grunted in reply.

Rinoa fidgeted. The question she'd asked earlier was still nagging in the back of her mind. Finally, she asked, "Who's Sora, again?"

"Sora's what they call the Keyblade's chosen one." Rinoa recognized the name immediately and a look of awed surprise spread across her face. "Don't know why, don't know how, but he is," Leon went on, "and everybody here owes him for getting rid of Maleficent. He took the last of the Organization down a few weeks ago."

"Oh." They stood in silence for another moment while Rinoa processed the information. Then she looked up with a smile. "Hey…you searched for me. That's all that matters, okay?" Leon sighed. _Wonderful, she can sense what I'm feeling again…ah, well._ He nodded wordlessly. Rinoa tugged him out of the corner. "Come on; let's get all this stuff out so we can go home."

Leon glanced at his watch while the others looked up at him. "Rin, it's going on one o'clock. Now isn't the time." He lowered his arm and made a quick decision. Turning to everyone else he raised his voice, shifting into "Commander Mode" (as his friends both old and new called it.) "Listen up. It's getting late and the town needs to settle in for the night, so everyone needs to bring only what you know you have to have with you." He nodded at Quistis. "Quistis, you're in charge of the meds. Bring as many healing items as you can. Zell," he said, turning slightly, "I'm guessing you flew this thing, so run the shutdown procedures, then pack up. Irvine, Laguna," he turned to the two gunslingers next, "you two will guard the ship until we're done. Keep an eye out for monsters." He leveled a warning glare at Laguna. "Cloud, Cid and I will help with the packing; Rinoa, Ellone, you bring what you think everyone will need for an overnight stay. We clear?"

Sharp nods were the reply. Leon sighed. "I said, are we clear?" he repeated forcefully. The SeeD salutes he got from his old friends—plus a more nod and a grin from Rinoa, a half-cocked, folded-arm grin and a fist-pump from Cid, and an instinctive SOLDIER salute from Cloud-was enough for him. "All right. Let's go."

To be continued...

* * *

**A/N:**Been kinda busy lately so it might be a while before I can get the next chapter up. Shout outs: Thanks a ton to my beta readers Rhino7, M.L. Alaya and WishingDreamer5! You people warm my already-flaming heart!

Until next Chapter, folks!


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